Maybe I haven’t written so many rhyming words
but there’s things that could be worse.
I put work first.
I’ve been writing behind the scenes
about how things look, just where it can’t be seen.
Code is poetry.

If you could write “feel bad about that”
on a list, maybe you could get it done
and when you were done feeling bad about that,
you could cross it off, and that’d be fun.

And then you could feel good.
Feel good, that’s the next thing
on the list; don’t you wish
you could list just the best things
but it’s the worst things
that need done the worst.
It seems the last thing you want to do
must come first.

Long after nobody else remembers
but while it still hurts them somewhere in their sole,
there’s a pebble that you put right there on purpose
and you’ve got to get it out to make you whole.

And then you could feel good.
Feel good, that’s the next thing
on the list; don’t you wish
you could list just the best things
but it’s the worst things
that need done the worst.
It seems the last thing you want to do
must come first.

I still listen to the playlist that you made for the road trip away.
I still have to close my eyes when I get to the third track,
and I lean my head back
and let the memories wash across my mind
in lieu of tears across my face.
I can’t cry every time that I miss that summer.